Artist of the Week: Cat’s Eyes’ Rachel Zeffira

If Canadian vocalist Rachel Zeffira surprised anyone with her latest project, Cat’s Eyes (a collaboration with Faris Badwan, the rake-thin lead singer of British phycho-Goth ensemble the Horrors), it was herself.

“I had lots of delusional fantasies as a kid, like winning an Olympic gold medal or an Oscar,” explains the 28-year-old, who, up until December, had spent the last ten years performing as a classical soprano, “but I never for a second thought I’d ever make an album as a pop singer.”

Strictly speaking, Cat’s Eyes isn’t “pop music”, but when you compare it to the arias and operatic solos Zeffira is used to, it’s close enough. Born out of a mutual appreciation for sixties girl-group garage rock, Badwan and Zeffira share singing responsibilities over stripped-back, barely there piano loops and hushed vocal harmonies, and their recently released, self-titled album feels more like lovelorn, Cocteau Twins–style dream pop if it sounds like anything at all. “By the time we got around to recording the album, I basically had to forget everything I’d ever learned about opera,” she says. “For instance, I didn’t have to concentrate on things like projecting anymore, because the microphone was right in front of me.”

Since Cat’s Eyes’ debut at the end of last year (they launched with a secretive performance at the Vatican. Yes, the Vatican), Zeffira admits she’s grown to favor the less-demanding life of a pop singer. Especially when she considers the round-the-clock maintenance and vocal fine-tuning opera requires. “After a point it was really freeing,” she explains. “It’s more natural and closer to what my real voice sounds like. When I’m singing I’m not thinking about technique or what my diaphragm is doing. I don’t have to avoid dairy products, air-conditioning, or talking too much. Also, if someone opens a candy wrapper at one our shows, it’s not going to ruin the atmosphere.” However, this has come with the disappointment of her still-devoted classical fans; since her early 20s, Zeffira had been hailed as a promising young talent, and still Google-able YouTube clips of her recordings are littered with comments bewailing her abandonment of the discipline. That said, as hushed and low-key as her new style is, Rachel admits Cat’s Eyes still has hints of opera’s theatricality.“It’s easy to forget sixties girl-group music was quite dark,” Zeffira continues. “Faris played one song for me called ‘Nightmare,’ by a band called The Whyte Boots. It’s about a girl who gets killed by a girl gang, and there is a wild range of emotion there that is very operatic.”